Known thunderstorm detection systems have employed lightning sensors to detect and locate thunderstorms. One type of lightning sensor used to locate thunderstorms includes a pair of orthogonal magnetic loop antennas to provide signals representative of the north-south and east-west components of the magnetic field produced by a lightning discharge. This sensor also includes an omni-directional electric field antenna to provide a signal representative of the electric field produced by the lightning discharge. The direction of the lightning discharge is determined from the ratio of the magnetic field components and the polarity of the electric field. However, data from two or more such sensors is required to determine the position of the discharge using triangulation techniques.
The main disadvantage of employing triangulation techniques for determining the location or position of a thunderstorm, is the necessity of having reliable communications between each of the remote sensors and a central station which performs the triangulation. In order to overcome this disadvantage, single sensor thunderstorm detection systems have been developed. Such systems typically use only the amplitude of a sensed field to provide an indication of range. However, because such systems cannot determine whether a signal of a given amplitude represents a weak lightning discharge in close proximity to the sensor or a strong lightning discharge at a distance from the sensor, these systems have been found to provide many false thunderstorm indications.